Happy birthday to Mike!

Mike is another year older today, though the run of sleepless nights he's had lately has aged him much more than that.

As some of you know, he applied for a new job on a bit of a whim. Getting it and accepting it would be a fairly momentous change, but we're unsure if it would be for the better or the worse. We've been endlessly debating the pros and cons, but it's an agonizing decision, because it's so balanced either way.

He has a job interview this afternoon. He had a short pre-interview on Tuesday, which he felt went very well. Now, if he gets the job, we're not sure if it would be a good idea to take it. It's so hard to tell the difference between cold feet and a genuinely bad decision. He's thinking it may come up again next year, giving him more time to emotionally prepare for the shift, but he's worried turning it down right now will hurt his chances of being accepted in the future. Or, he could just as easily be rejected and we're here agonizing over nothing, which, knowing us, is exactly how it will play out.

Sigh.

On the strike front, a new contract has been drawn up. They're voting on it this afternoon. It's not good for guys like Mike. Not only will he get no pay raise at all - only the guys at the very top of the pay grid will get a raise, and a nice one at that - but they've closed the loophole which allowed Mike to work overtime through the slow winter season, while permenant guys were capped at 20 hours a week. That means the part-timers will be scheduled for full-time before the temps are even offered work, which probably means lots of temps being laid off in the fall. That would probably include Mike. Gotta love the union - screw over the young guys to get a settlement. I just have to note, most of the guys who will benefit from this contract didn't even turn up on the picket line. Mike, who will probably lose his job over it, has been there nearly every day. So much for "solidarity." We'll know in a few days how everyone voted.

Either way, the new piece rate company is up, running, and taking away work Mike and his co-workers would normally do. They cost the company less in labour, so there's no reason to think they'll vanish after the strike, which just raises the chances for layoffs. In the long run, that new company may cost the company more; those guys have to buy their own tools and wire, and are paid per job, so I can't see how they wouldn't skimp on materials and quality, unless mistakes are taken off their pay, which would just be cruel. It's all very scary. Maybe even scary enough to be a point in the new job's favour, if he gets it.

Adulthood blows. Too many big decisions, with big consequences. Does he stay with the status quo and hope for the best, or take a huge leap of faith not knowing if it'll end up better or worse? It's hard to know.

John is doing OK. I don't think he's feeling well. He had a runny nose yesterday and he's been clawing at his ears; one of them does look a little red inside. It's hard to tell - he doesn't have a fever, but he has been grumpy the last couple days. I assumed it was teething - he's been biting a lot lately. He bit my hand so hard the other day he broke skin, and when he's got a teether, he bites down really hard with the gums just beside his teeth. He's loving this pink rubber octopus Mike's parents sent, because the legs are the perfect shape for reaching those gums. Rubber-grip, retractable pens are even better, but people look at me like I'm a terrible mom when he's chomping on one of those. In private, they're a life-saver - just never try to take one away from him. He flies into a full blown tantrum.

Thankfully, he already has a check-up scheduled for tomorrow morning (his nine-month birthday - yay!) I'm going to ask the Doc to take a peek in those ears, just in case. Not a very good time for an appointment otherwise - John is looking a little rough. He has a cut on his ear, from some fall or other. It got a little infected, so it's all red and bruised. Polysporin has been helping, but he keeps wiping it off with all his clawing of ears. His knees are bruised from crawling and he's got a rash, probably caused by the runs, which is probably caused by the cold he seems to have. All in all, with all his cuts, bruises and the rash, he looks almost abused. Obviously, he's not. I just hope the doc doesn't think anything is up. Bruised knees are OK for a crawling baby, right?

He spent a couple of hours with sitters last night - "auntie" Laura and "grandma" Joan, whom he hadn't seen since Christmas. I was nervous, because he is a little strange around people now. Some days he's fine with people - other days he burries his face in my chest to escape them. We haven't actually left him alone with anybody since my parents were here, and they were hardly strangers by then, so we had no idea how he'd react. But he was fine! They said he fussed a bit for the first few minutes, but they took him to the park to play on the swings, and he settled right down and had lots of fun. When we went to pick him up, he was laughing and having a great time! That makes me feel a lot better about going back to work - he'll be OK without me. He can drink from a sippy cup now too! It only took him about two weeks of regular daily use to piece it together. I started by just sticking it in his mouth and pouring in water. After a couple of days, he started opening up for it. Then asking for it (with grunts and gestures - he's so much like Mike.) Then he started helping me hold it. Then one fine day he grabbed it from me and chugged back all by himself! When he put it down, he had a huge smile on his face! Now he won't let me help him - he's a big boy now, he doesn't want my help!

I hear him waking up - gotta go! Wish Mike luck with, well, everything. Votes, interviews, sound sleep; you name it, he needs luck for it.